Weirdest driving experience ever

At least for me - got a rental 2024 Volvo S60, as Enterprise says that's the only vehicle they have at the moment.
The thing feels like an extraterrestrial is actually driving it.
Numb controls, non-linear accelerator & brake, no sense of its dimensions, and one sits essentially on the floor.
Lots of controls only accessed by a distracting menu, and I wouldn't call anything so far being intuitive to my Boomer brain

I guess I belong in an older time.

I know what you mean. I'm a shuttle driver for one of the larger car rental companies and I have the same feeling in a lot of the cars I move. Especially the European brands. One of the worst cars to figure out how the radio's work are Audi's. So many of the radio controls are completely on a touch screen and you have to push so many choices to get what you want it's unsafe to do while driving. That's why I like getting into the Mopars because for the most part they still have a dial for on-off for volume and another for setting stations, of if not then it's an easy touch screen to use.

More surreal than weird-

Driving across the blackness of rural Utah at night in the little bubble of light thrown out by my 'Cuda's headlights and taillights.

i agree with the crazy tech in new cars.
i was working on a 2024 VW ID-4 electric car yesterday. i couldn't roll the window down unless i was sitting in the car.

The last rentals I had were several years ago, a Hyundai that had horrible traction control that I feared fir my life driving and even the basic heater controls were in menus and a Dodge Journey which was great to drive and had controls on the dash.

Rented a Mustang last year, I thought something was wrong with the steering, until I realized it was the lane change warning system shaking the wheel whenever I crossed over a lane marker

Thank goodness I could disable it!

My wife has the lane changing thing I hate it,it's in her 2021 hyndai as well as the stupid start stop thing that turns the car off when standing still at a light.I hate it she doesn't mind it as much.The salesman had to show us the button that disables it,he said it does that to save fuel.

Car & Driver said:

"We were impressed with the over-the-road prowess of the S60, but ultimately felt it lacked the driver-to-car-to-road connection and steering feel of the best sports sedans. During a comparison test against four-cylinder rivals, the Volvo finished last due to its more subdued driving nature versus sportier alternatives such as the Alfa Romeo Giulia and BMW 3-series. No, the S60 leans more towards luxury than sport."

Me too

Most of Nevada and a lot of Arizona are the same way, a whole light of nothing out there

[quote=Charger727]Rented a Mustang last year, I thought something was wrong with the steering, until I realized it was the lane change warning system shaking the wheel whenever I crossed over a lane marker

Thank goodness I could disable it!
[/quote The first time I drove one of those cars it took me a while to figure out what was going on. It just gets annoying after a while when you turn the wheel one way and the car tries doing something else.. I don't remember which brands these were but there are some that won't start if the door is open, and some others won't start until the seat belt is buckled. Something else GM does that had me wondering for a while is if the keys are left inside the car when you shut the door the horn beeps a few times. I guess it's a good reminder but it makes me start thinking I locked the keys in when I walk away.

My BIL has one. Very nice car. Not really my thing, but it is nice.

I've had a couple of experiences. I was driving a friend's newer Ford 150 Platinum something or another with the cruise set. A semi passed me and pulled over in front and it felt like the brakes came on. I pushed on the gas , but it still wouldn't speed up. I shut the cruise off, and all was well. When I told him about it, he said it was a safety feature. He didn't like it anymore than I did. The other, my daughter had a newer Durango. I took it to the gas station. When I got ojut to pump the gas, I needed to pull up a little. I sat down in it with my leg hanging out the door, put it in drive and it wouldn't move. I was able to discover online that the door had to be shut to move the car. I'm afraid all this stuff might be too safe for me. Especially when it quits working in a year or two.

All perfect examples of man outsmarting himself.

I DO like the feature of my 300 not locking the doors if I leave the fob in it though! It does not shut-off at a red light, it does not try to take over the steering or braking while I'm driving. Those are STUPID features that no car should have - they will cause more harm than good. Systems like that remind me of some of the "automatic" features new airliners have - like the 737 take-off mode. Airbus has a bunch of features pilots cannot always override when they need to!

My first taste of new tech was a 2011 Charger with the radar cruise control/ I was going around 75 and came up on a truck in the left lane doing 65. I didn't know the cruise was on and the car slowed down to the speed of the truck! I got in the right lane to go around and it took off like a bat out of hell! That's when I figured out what was going on. Then my hands got real hot, I guess I pushed the heated steering wheel button...

i went for a ride the other day with my buddy to deliver a set of seats to the local upholstery guy. he has a 2022 chevy pickup.
every time it got close to the lane markers, it "dinged and donged", even though he was no way close to going over the lines.
it also did the same thing when he got so close to another vehicle in front of him, as well as automatically putting on the brakes.
then there was that "infotainment" screen.............. what a joke to work that !
i'll stick to my 1999 caravan ["the bus"] thanks.

When I bought mine in 2016, the dealer had enabled the hill-hold. But the thing would come on at ANY incline! So there you are, trying to take off - smoking the clutch while the [censored] thing is holding the brakes on.

First thing I disabled and it's never been turned back on. What a USELESS function.

Just got a 2010 Ram dually and when you put it in reverse a back-up chime comes on, not good when you have a trailer hitched to it! How the heck do you turn it off?

I mentioned our 2023 vw toas problems before ,it's been checked,fixed whatever before they lie at the dealer anyway.We bought this car for me while I was working in my retirement, not now don't need it or the payment.Things that are wrong,all 4 windows went down on there own,radio turns totally off on its own,heat and ac can be fickle,start stop car gets screwy.Any way this puppy's getting traded in on used something maybe mopar.My wife still commutes to work 100 miles a day so she will need a new vehicle probably hyndai they been good commuter cars for us over the years.

Electronics, modules, and computers...great when they work, a nightmare when they don't.
I traded that Volvo back to Enterprise for a '23 RAV-4, which is MUCH more normal, and fairly likeable for a new vehicle.

FWIW on Hynudai/Kia: around here in the inland PNW - and possibly everywhere - dealers can only order parts from the factory once/week.
Pre-COVID, one Kia parts dept told me that a lot of stuff takes 2 weeks to arrive.
So unless the parts are in stock, downtime can be a factor.

And to wear out the starter faster.

We agree good point!

The start-stop deal is for CAFE standards test as much as anything.
The starter engagement is often a starter-generator thing at the flywheel, I think.
There's no starter sound on the '23 RAV-4 rental I have, but I turned it and another nanny off.
At a stop, if you just exert enough pressure on the brake pedal to hold the car, it keeps idling.
Push harder, or turn the nanny on, engine stops 'til you push the go pedal.
Pretty seamless, but I'm not a fan.
And that stuff's gonna be spendy when it breaks.

With all the different cars I drive at work with that feature I've found that once you're stopped and it shuts off lift and repress the brake pedal quickly and it will start again without needing to press the gas pedal and will stay running. I keep trying to find a way to come to stop and keep it running but nothing I've tried has worked so far.

I suppose you could experiment with selecting N and using the handbrake - if the vehicle has one - at low speeds.
I would guess that system is activated by some combo of brake switch & vehicle speed sensor.
This RAV-4 knows when it's sitting still, but like I said, pedal pressure can activate the stop/start even with that feature switched off.

Very few of the newer cars have an actual handle for an emergency brake. Most all of them have an electric parking brake only which just immediately locks up the brakes which if used in an emergency would most likely cause the loss of control. One other so called safety feature is when the car is put into reverse the side view mirrors turn down so that the only thing you can see are the rear tires and I do understand why that's done. But with the mirrors pointing down I can't really see where I'm backing beyond the end of the car. Some will say that's what the cameras are for but call me old school, I don't trust the camera's, they are pointed directly behind the car, and if they get dirty you won't have a clear view. I want to see directly down the side of the car to see what's next to me. You can't do that when it's pointed down the the rear tires..

Thanks for sharing all the interesting work-arounds.. I'll try remembering the next time I rent an unfamiliar car..


I had an infuriating near-disaster in a rental 2023 Kia SUV this last summer...

I was at a tight city intersection during rush-hour, I did not have the right of way, and I was waiting forever to turn right. There was a looong line of traffic coming my way from the left.. So I watched carefully for a decent gap, and timed it JUST right, but as I pulled into the gap, I was so close to the car I was going to follow that the Kia AUTOMATICALLY PANIC BRAKED, making the next car coming from the left almost @U^#Q$&U^$%@%&R$^% rear-end me!

I was so angry at the F@!%#%G rental Kia!.

.. at the next red light intersection I walked back and apologized to the driver behind me. He was fine with it.

Did I say I absolutely HATE those "smart" driving features?
- Art

I am still waiting to rent a “George Jetson family car”

If you use the turn signals it won't do that. Or at least that has been the case for every car I have driven with lane keep assist.